E8 prises software away from its arrays to run on Dell, HPE, Lenovo kit

Flash flinger does a Kaminario

NVMe-over-Fabrics all-flash array shipper E8 is selling its software separately to be run on certified hardware from Dell, HPE and Lenovo.

An E8 storage system uses NVMe-over-fabrics to hook up servers, running E8 host agents, across Ethernet to an E8 storage controller full of NVMe SSDs. The E8 storage controller is a 2U, 24 x 2.5-inch slot, dual processor server system that can scale out.

The certified storage controller (server) hardware is architected to provide that functionality. Customers now buy hardware for the E8 storage controller from the certified suppliers they may already use, with existing discount and support arrangements.

Certified servers include Dell PowerEdge R740xd and R640, Lenovo ThinkSystem SR630, and HPE DL360 and DL380. They need to be running RHEL or Centos 6.7, Ubuntu 14, SLES 12 or Debian 8.6 or later versions of these OS'.

E8 software server needs

The software comes from E8's channel which could make up for lost hardware sales with, maybe, installation, deployment and other consulting services.

Customers can still buy all-in-one E8 hardware and software storage systems or opt to buy them separately.

Up to 96 servers, running E8 host-side agents, can be connected concurrently to each E8 storage controller set up this way. The NVMe-over-Fabrics access offers radically faster block storage access than traditional Fibre Channel or iSCSI access.

E8's software-hardware separation is slightly different from Kaminario's, in that E8 has a list of certified hardware suppliers from whom you can buy the hardware, while Kaminario customers can only buy their hardware from TechData. Kaminario's software is still tied to a hardware supplier while E8's is less constrained, being tied to a set of hardware suppliers. ®